


Ethics

by Mareel



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Post Ep: s03e07 The Shipment, Trust, Xindi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-12
Updated: 2013-03-12
Packaged: 2017-12-05 02:31:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/717837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mareel/pseuds/Mareel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Can one choice make a difference?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ethics

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place immediately after the events of "The Shipment" just after Jonathan and _Enterprise_ have departed. It is told by Gralik, the Xindi Arboreal manager of the manufacturing facility that produced a key material used in the Xindi weapon used against Earth.

 

> “ _I'm proud of my craft, Captain. I've practiced it for many years. I won't let my work be corrupted in this way. Seven million people. If I'd chosen my clients more carefully, that tragedy might not have happened. I don't intend to let it happen again.” – Gralik, _The Shipment__

  


 

I pour myself another drink and sit heavily, trying to process what happened here today. I’ve led a quiet life, managing this kemosite production facility and enjoying the woodlands. Of course there have always been day-to-day crises, production problems, impatient clients. But I have always taken pride in producing high quality material at a fair price for everyone wanting to purchase it.

It was always my dream – to use my talent for materials engineering in the service of my people’s efforts to rebuild our Xindi worlds, shattered by civil war before I was born. It can never be the same as it was in my grandfather's day – nothing can bring the Avians back to darken the skies. But we _can_ hope to build safe places where families will thrive, a future for all Xindi.

Today I met this Archer, a Human he called himself, who turned my comfortable world sideways. It was hard to accept that fellow Xindi had used kemosite – _my_ kemosite – to build a weapon that killed seven million of his people, on his homeworld. But I do believe Archer spoke the truth when he said a larger weapon was in production, awaiting only the final shipment from my facility.

It was hard to trust him… it was no doubt harder for him to trust me. But it seemed to be the only way for both of us to save ourselves – by saving one another. I could have turned him in to Degra and Dolim when they arrived demanding their shipment. Or he could have destroyed this facility, killing us all, buying silence with our lives. What would be a few dozen Xindi lives compared to seven million of his people? But something about him made me think this was not an option he wanted on the table, unless he was forced to do it. 

I did fail. I didn’t ask enough questions of Degra about his use for the material. I haven’t asked enough questions of any of my clients, beyond ascertaining their ability to pay and that they weren’t criminals of record. No one asks these things. But we _should_ ask; I feel as responsible for those seven million deaths as Degra and Dolim should feel. Degra has the reputation of being a scientist, an ethical man. I don’t know how this knowledge would sit with him… I don’t know how he justified this weapon to himself. But I can’t be his conscience – I can only change my own practices. Perhaps my colleagues at other facilities will change as well. It is a start. 

I drain my cup, but not before raising it once more to my departed Human friend. And hoping that his home will be safer for what we did here today. I told him all Xindi were not his enemy. And all Humans are not ours.

 


End file.
